Samuel Adams Cranberry Lambic | Boston Beer Company (Samuel Adams)

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Reviews by kwill:

Pours well with a half inch head that does not disappear immediately. The color is a nice cloudy amber that makes me think of a good wheat beer. Unfortunately this is the best part about the beer.

The smell is like sweet, over-ripe fruit. The taste is initially good, but the aftertaste kicks in very quickly and leaves a hint of bitterness and a flavor of fruit that has gone bad.

I generally enjoy fruit beers, and I enjoy all Sam Adams beers (except the Utopias and Light) so I am quite disappointed that I have to give this beer such a low score. Overall I am glad that this beer only comes out once a year so that it is not taking up shelf space of other, more deserving beers.

More User Reviews:

12 oz brown bottle with a "purchase before" date on the label. "Wheat Beer brewed with cranberry juice and other natural flavors added" stated on the label, nothing about spontaneous fermentation or aging it in barrels, blending and aging for more time. It's a fruit beer nothing more and nothing less.

Dull and cloudy rusty reddish hue, holds a ring of white lace strongly. Fruity aroma, little cranberry with a faint tartness. Maltiness is present in the aroma though not too much as the yeast flavors blanket with faint wild herbal phenols.

Semi-smooth and a touch creamy within the medium body. Tartness is there, some cranberry flavor with some fruitiness as well. Malt is there with a mellow sweet graininess. Hops are very mild. Finishes with a lingering tartness, flash of cranberry and vague malt.

Notes: A good fruit beer but not a lambic at all, how they get away with using "Lambic" on the label is beyond me ... its not even close. The new Longshot Cranberry Wit should take the place of this beer IMO.

This is the worst "beer" I've ever had in my life. I first had it when I was a depraved college kid who would play Edward 40 hands wth OE and still could not finish a bottle of this garbage. For years I thought all "lambics" were terrible because this garbage that I got in a Sam Adams sampler pack. I've since grown and learned the virtues of true sour beers and even more so want this to f--- off. It's not a lambic, it's a crap wheat beer with horrid cranberry flavoring and maple syrup that do not go at all and are not even a fraction as good as it sounds, in fact it's awful. The fact that this beer continues to exist would make aliens, if they existed, not want to land here because the world does not make sense and is too scary because this garbage swill continues to be sold to the masses rather than used to torture prisoners at Guantanamo Bay. You prevent the growth of America's youth by selling this garbage as "craft" beer, thereby ensuring a country of Bud drinking drones. If I could punch this beer in the face i would. I poured this down the drain to drink a bottle of Mohawk vodka instead because it was a better alternative. Burn in Hell, you POS "beer".

Color ok, mouthfeel ok, taste a--.

I'm surprised you named your company Sam Adams, not Benedict Arnold because your sewage swill has been a traitor to my mouth.

Presentation: A 12 ounce bottle used as a malicious psychic weapon in a recent trade, with whom I thought was a great friend and confident, my fellow So.Cal BA xlperro. I can only imagine that like Sam Adams, he hates the Brits. And to think we were mates, his Homebrewed Mild kicked Ass as well. Damn.

Described as a Wheat Beer brewed with Cranberry Juice and other &#8220;natural&#8221; flavors. Duh! Hey presumably someone actually includes a lambic in there somewhere, or are lambics adjuncts???

Appearance: I kept opening and closing the door. But unfortunately it still appeared in my fridge and never disappeared. It had to go. No longer could I stand that smug looking twat with the girlie over the ears hair-do and the raised mug in his left hand. Pours with a copper colored body clear. The head is so ashamed to be associated with this offering that it immediately breaks into a lumpy scum offering.

Mouthfeel: Just like having a mouthful of Cranberry extract, oh, that&#8217;s what it is. Never mind.

Drinkability: I finished it, in the name of research and the fact that I needed to be punished today for some ill doings (I left the hole-punched paper in the Photocopier at work). The sink was begging for it though.

Overall: A physical assault on the senses. I would rather have a large current passed through my testicles, my toenails individually plucked whilst at the same time being forced to listen to Vanilla Ice and made to watch re-runs of Survivor - *rather* than drink this &#8220;beer&#8221; ever again. Simply Awful. I hesitate to even call this a &#8220;beer&#8221;; it&#8217;s more like an anemic Alco-pop.

So if you get a Kia Saturn &#8211; and stick an Aston Martin badge on it &#8211; does it make it a Sports Car?? Do ya think anyone will notice??

I won&#8217;t even dare to start my monosyllabic rambling rant about the use of the word "lambic"&#8230;&#8230;If I could eradicate one beer and it was a choice between any of the Bud-Miller-Coors brand and this &#8211; I&#8217;m afraid this Sammies would get it, both barrels, at least the macros can say they bring some pleasure to millions of people!!

Like a lame horse &#8211; it begs to be put out of its misery.
Shoot this f**ker if you see it.

Smells great, tastes unappealing. It's like they tried to make a lambic while still following the brewing process of an Ale.

But there is hope! I use this stuff to cook with all the time during the winter and it's GREAT! Try putting it in a slow cooker with some chicken breast, veggies, a can of cream of mushroom soup, and some garlic. AWESOME!

I got this beer a few times in the Samuel Adams Winter Mix Packs. This beer each year was by far the worst of the bunch. The cranberry tartness is just way over the top. It's like drinking a sour hard candy. If they lightened up on the cranberry it might not be that bad.

The best thing about this beer is the appearance,it pours a nice prange/red with a decent fluffy head,the aroma is pretty tart and slightly yeasty.Taste is very tart with the cranberry not really evident to much the tartness of this beer is the main thing I get with a hit of sweetness in the finish.Ah not a horrible beer but wont buy anymore of the holiday gift packs to get it.

A - Poured a, what else, cranberry color into a pint glass, left a 1.5-finger high pinkish head that diffused rather quickly into a ring. Above-average lacing with good retention, which bumps the score up a touch. Darkens towards the bottom when held to light, and completely opaque. A pretty beer.

S - Unsurprisingly there's a great amount of berry to the nose, and also toasted biscuit and a dash of malt. Aroma is on the faint side. Only barely smells like beer.

T - Big berry burst in the opening, a very sweet beer. Caramel notes found lying underneath the sweetness and just a flash of malt. No hops detectable in the finish. A pretty wide deviation from what I'd consider a beer but if we're judging on pure taste, like it or don't like it, I would call it a pleasant cranberry beverage.

M - Aftertaste is sticky and sweet, like a cranberry. Not tasting the bitterness or astringency some people are noting. Medium-bodied, carbonation is a little weak compared to the other SA offerings I've tried which for the most part have been spot-on. Stays fairly linear as it warms.

D/O - Seems to be it's most drinkable at it's coldest. You know, for a holiday get-together this seems like an inoffensive offering, and one that's certainly different from most of the stuff on the market. However, if your main draw is for a winter warmer and not a fruit beer, keep looking, there are better offerings than this even within the Holiday Sampler you can only get these from (the Holiday Porter was very tasty). If someone told me this was Mike's Hard Cranberry, a drink which I haven't tried, I would probably believe them. I wouldn't pour this thing down the drain, but it's also not my first (or second) pick out of the Winter Sampler either.

An average beer at best, but a lambic it is not. This one poured an amber color with a small white head that left a little lace. The scent was of cranberries and a slight sourness that I can't put my finger on. The taste was ok with a bit of tart cranberries but there was an underlying sweetness that seemed out of place for this beer. If this one was just a little more tart and balanced it would be pretty good, but as it stands it is average at best.

Well...here it goes. Pours a golden amber with a thin layer of head and only the slightest hint of red. For a cranberry brew I thought this was going to be much darker and deeper red...quite odd. The nose is an odd phenolic clove-ish smell...where are the cranberries?? I think they left them all on the label! A bit of wheaty grain aroma there as well.

First sip is upfront with a sour mellow cranberry flavor..mixed in with some cloves, a bit of earthy barnyard and a light honey sweetness. Overall it's boring and uninspiring. I was expecting a good deal of cranberry flavor from both the name and the label, but this just falls flat on its face.

Mouthfeel is not bad with a nice creaminess and medium body. Goes down easily enough. Drinkability is basically zilch. I'm glad I tried it, but nothing is making me want another. If you know someone who's been naughty this year, then this is the perfect gift.

Oh, the controversy. Is it or isn't it a true lambic? Well, probably not. But then, on the label, Sam Adams simply states "it is our version..." So that's basically what it is. Someone's interpretation of a cranberry lambic. Also on the label, it says straight-up "wheat beer with cranberry juice." Hmm...

Cloudy faint red appearance with minimal head.

Some sweetness in the smell. Nothing too strong.

Up to this point, things are looking okay.

It's the taste that is not very lambic-like. Here is where the whole package seems more like a fruity wheat beer, which is really what this is. And there's nothing wrong with that. It is just probably not very accurate to call this a "lambic."

You can taste the beginnings of what would become a lambic's signature tartness in the mouthfeel. Unfortunately, it dies away almost as soon as it presents itself.

I would have this beer again, if only out of curiosity. I feel like I need to figure this one out...

Overall, kind of an average beer. It was an orange color with a small head. A fruity aroma, but no particular fruit discernable. Finally, on tasting, there's the tart cranberry. But it still had a sweet taste too. An OK beer, not one I'd want a lot of in one sitting.

12oz brown bottle, with freshness date on the side of the label. Beer was poured into a proper lambic glass.

This beer pours a very hazy peach / amber coloured beer, that initially foams up to a decent head, but quickly falls to a whispy lace with sticking tracks as it settles. I'm assuming that cranberries (even the juice) would give this beer more of a red hue, but it's not there.

Aroma has none of the expected funk that you'd find in a true lambic beer. There's plenty of artificial smelling cranberry juice though, along side of a sturdy sweetish malt aroma. I swear I can also pick of some caramel (diacetyl ?), too. What's that doing in this beer?

In the flavour, we get a heavy dose of sweetness, but none of the off-setting dryness found in Belgian lambics. The caramel is out of place, creating a sense of unbalance on the palate and it tends to dominate over the cranberry. And, as the cranberry addition is from juice (and additional flavours), the defining character of this beer, or what should be, is a very one-dimensional, barely tart, cranberry "cocktail" out of the can like flavour. Flash of citric lime-like bitterness races across the palate (pretending to contain our missing dryness) with a prickly carbonation and touch of mineral / salt. Finish is grain dry with citric flavours lingering in the nooks and crannies.

If you're going to call your beer a "lambic" at least make a true attempt to create a lambic. This is nothing more than a fruit beer, an unbalanced one and a very misleading beer.

i see this beer has a lot of bad reviews. I found this beer to be quite good actually. unlike other reviews, i did not fidn the cranbery overtly overbearing. it's there for sure but it isnt overtly strong. it's cranbery lambic, it's soposed to have cranbery taste. i guess if you abhored cranberys i could se enot liking it, but i dont mind cranberies, so i would say this was a different, yet enjoyable beer.

Appearance: The body has a hazy appearance with a deep reddish tan, rust color. On top it has a small slightly pinkish white head. The head slowly fades down to a thick ring that hangs on well and leaves some lace on the glass.

Smell: The aroma hits you with tart wheat and tart cranberry along with cherry cough syrup, sweet maple syrup and a hint of yeast.

Taste/Mouth Feel: The flavor has an odd mix of tangy wheat, tart cranberry, cough syrup, sweet grain, maple syrup, and just a hint of some yeast. The finish quickly goes from syrupy sweet to tangy and slightly acidic and then hangs on the tongue. The body is medium to full with a heavy slick and almost sticky texture. Carbonation is delicate and gets lost in the heavy texture.

Notes: I actually don't mind this beer but I have to be in an odd mood and I wouldn't want to drink too many of these. Also the bottle reads that they use a top fermenting yeast so this is in no way anything close to a real Lambic beer!!!

Looks pink pouring from the bottle but once settled in the glass, appears amber. Nice head that retains well. Smells of wheat, yeast, and subtle tart cranberries. Taste is very thin yet sweet. I dont know why this is called a lambic. Light cranberry flavor, subtle tartness, weak flavors, lots of wheat. Thin mouthfeel. Very carbonated. One of these is enough for me.

Pours dark amber with a nice head. lacing abounds. Smell is sweet and fruity. Taste is full and heavy, being almost too sweet for my taste. Decent maltiness, hops are readily tasted. Overall, this is a special occasion type beer, and not a session brew. This was a bit to sweet and overdone for my taste.

Reddish maroon body on a vigorous pour yields a small white head. This dissipates to a few bubbles around the edges. Smells slightly sweet, slight bit of earthiness. Tastes sweet to tart and back to sweet fruitiness. Creamy medium body mouthfeel. I could only handle two of these in a sitting. I'll probably try this again next year.